Heather's Helping Hand
by QueenoftheWilderwest
Summary: After getting tired of watching Hiccup and Astrid dance around each other, Heather decides to intervene and get these two to admit their feelings once and for all. [Spoilers for Race to the Edge Season 3].


Slow days were the best days.

It was almost worth the attacks, worth the waking up in the early hours of the morning to leap onto their dragons and fly to some godforsaken island to stop Viggo from unveiling another awful plot, just so that their next day could start late and finish early, a day for resting their aching limbs and trying to forget about what had happened the day before.

Slow days meant lying around in the sun, forgoing their boots with their tough leather soles in favour of letting their toes wiggle amongst the soft grass. Slow days meant time to breathe, to remind themselves that despite everything, they had beaten all of the odds and were alive, Viggo be damned. Slow days meant mud baths for Fishlegs and Meatlug, Snotlout guzzling on all the spare food they had, and the twins concocting exploit after exploit that Hiccup would rather pretend he knew nothing about.

Of course, slow days meant nothing to Astrid, whose limbs always itched for action from the moment the sun touched the sky. For a while, days like these had bothered her. Snotlout, the twins and Fishlegs would inevitably be asleep when she was ready and raring to go, and if Hiccup was awake, then he was certainly distracted by some project or another, too caught up to pay attention to her. It wasn't that she minded having some alone time with Stormfly, in fact, she loved it, but too much alone time made her feel antsy. She needed people to train with, someone that she could banter back and forth with.

The arrival of Heather had changed that. Heather liked to get up just as early; she still had a little nervous twitch she had from spending so much time with Dagur and the dragon hunters, and she had the same need for movement that Astrid did.

All at once, Astrid had company for the slow days, and now her off days were spent doing training exercises and finding the biggest thrill they could.

Today that meant stripping their boots and armour off, leaving them at the sandy shore of the Edge, and diving off the backs of their dragons who were hovering a little way out to see.

"Totally impossible from this height," Heather scoffed, balancing on the back of Windshear, her toes curling around her shiny scales.

Astrid's voice was filled with anticipation, her lips curling into a grin. "You wanna bet?" she said her eyes sparkling.

Before Heather could answer, Astrid leapt off Stormfly, executing a perfect somersault before crashing into the water, bobbing up above the surface with a giggle.

"Told you so!" she called. "Your turn!"

Heather grinned and jumped into the sea.

* * *

Hiccup was staring again.

He'd been sitting outside of his hut, map spread across the decking, ready for a day of charting the islands they'd discovered only a few days before. But he couldn't keep his concentration – he could hear the giggling down on the shore and he couldn't help but take a peek at what was going on.

At the shore, Astrid tipped her head over and squeezed her wet braid onto the ground, untying it and letting her hair run through her fingers. It was so rare that Astrid's hair was ever down that Hiccup found it almost impossible to look away. He found himself transfixed as he watched Astrid tease her hair out into sections and wind them back together, tying it all back up with a strip of leather.

"What are you doing?"

"Wha-" Hiccup spluttered, his face turning tomato coloured.

"Well," Heather said, looking down at him with a knowing smirk and dropping herself onto the deck beside him. "I'm not sure, but it _looked_ like you were staring at Astrid. With a dopey grin on your face."

"Oh Gods." Hiccup dropped his face into his hands. "It, uh, wasn't what it looked like?"

"So you haven't been harbouring secret feelings for her that you've been hiding away in the hope that they'd fade only for them to get stronger?"

"Oh, so it _was_ what it looked like," Hiccup grumbled, his voice all one tone.

Heather laughed at his indignant face. "Why don't you just tell her how you feel?"

"And get a punch in the arm for the trouble? No thanks."

"Hiccup, you are blind if you think she doesn't like you back," she said, smiling as she elbowed him in the side.

Hiccup didn't answer, just turned his head and gave a huff.

Heather stopped smiling for a moment, and focused her gaze down on her hands. "You know, Fishlegs told me she almost died."

Something dark passed across Hiccup's face, and his fingers curled around the edge of the decking, his knuckles turning white with the effort. "I don't want to talk about that."

"Okay, then I won't talk about it," Heather said, her voice soft. "But it just seems to me that life is fleeting and she might not be there forever. What's the worst that could happen?"

Hiccup didn't say anything.

"Just think about it, yeah?" Heather said, standing up and wandering back off over to Windshear.

Hiccup went back to staring.

* * *

"Hey, Astrid!"

He caught her while she was making her way back to her hut, hair still wet, Stormfly following close behind.

"Hey, Hiccup," she said when she saw him coming, offering him a smile. "What's going on?"

"Just wondered if I could talk to you about something."

"Sure, shoot," she said, opening out one arm and inviting him into her hut.

Astrid's hut was nice. Hiccup had not so subtly made sure that his hut was right next to hers, just so that if she ever needed him, he wasn't far away. Not that she ever would need him – that girl could challenge Thor himself, and probably win.

They both sat down on Astrid's bed, and Hiccup took a deep breath in. "I was thinking about the Scourge of Odin incident."

Astrid rolled her eyes. "This again? It's been weeks, Hiccup. I promise you, _I'm fine_."

"I know," Hiccup said, quickly. "It's just that it made me realise a few things. Like… how I feel about you."

"Hiccup-"

He waved a hand to stop her in her tracks and kept going. "I don't want to live in a world that doesn't have you in it. When I thought you were going to die, I thought I was going to go crazy," he said.

And then he took a deep long breath. "Astrid, I love you, and if it's what you want I want to be with you."

"Hiccup-"

"And if you don't want that, it's fine, completely fine. I just wanted you to know."

"Hiccup-"

"And really, you don't have to feel like you need to say something back, because I just-"

"For Thor's sake," Astrid said, reaching out and cupping Hiccup's cheek, pulling him in for a kiss before he could finish his sentence.

Hiccup froze for a moment, shocked by the sudden touch, but then he began to kiss back, one hand sliding up Astrid's back, pulling her closer.

They pulled back for a moment, foreheads still touching, eyes closed, neither of them able to keep their smile off their face.

"So that's a yes?" Hiccup mumbled.

Astrid let out a quiet, breathy laugh and pushed him gently in the chest. "Of course it's a yes."

The two sit there in the quiet, neither wanting to pull away just yet.

"Heather put you up to this, didn't she?" Astrid said, after a few minutes had passed.

"How did you know?"

"She's been bugging me about you all week."

Hiccup laughed and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Another silence followed. And then:

"You know I love you too, right?" Astrid said quietly.

He pulled her in for another kiss, this one sweeter and slower.

Outside the hut, Heather stood with her ear against the door, a triumphant smile on her face. Her work was done.


End file.
